A padayatra helped @INCKarnataka to come to power in 2013. They promised action against the loot of illegal mining. Now, it makes sense to recall their own forgotten rhetoric when they walk through Obulapuram and Bellary as a part of the #BharatJodoYatra. newindianexpress.com/opinions/2022/… My column in the @NewIndianXpress today in editions that did not appear yesterday due to Ayudha Pooja break.

At an award functioning yesterday #SMKrishna, in the presence of #SudhaMurthy of Infosys, has been hailed as the man who made Bangalore a IT hub. This myth has been debunked in the past but the power of propaganda has perpetuated it. In fact, in my book #FurrowsInAField /2 I write about how #SMK built a cosy network with Bangalore’s tech elite and the English language media to construct this falsehood. It was a public relations trick. I also mention how starting with RKHegde, who promoted tech education, and VMoily who gave access to tech /3

I have a suggestion to @CMofKarnataka @BSYBJP and his cabinet colleagues. Convert the #SuvarnaVidhanaSoudha in Belgaum, which is used only once or twice a year for legislature sessions, into a permanent multi-speciality hospital to serve the people of North Karnataka. 1/4 2/4 It was a vanity project (like the Central Vista) on which hundreds of crores of public money was wasted. It is locked up most of the year and maintenance itself runs into crores. It’s floor area is 145,730 sq meters.

What a degenerate honeytrap state #Karnataka politics has reached. After the sex scandal of one @BJP4Karnataka minister, now six other BJP ministers have gone to court seeking an injunction against broadcasting/publication of stuff against them. What does this imply? What are they afraid of? There is so much rumour doing the rounds that it is said there may be a mini tsunami of sex CDs preparing to hit the always anarchic shores of the @BSYBJP government. Perhaps @BJP4India should sack all injunction seekers to save itself of future

A top (retired) bureaucrat reminded me that today marks the silver jubilee of @H_D_Devegowda being sworn in as PM (01 June 1996). I told him it is actually a year short, but, he said there is no harm in ushering it a year earlier. I asked why? 1/6 Troubled about developments in India’s neighbourhood and at the borders, he said, Gowda did so much to build goodwill in the neighbourhood during his short tenure, which has never been acknowledged by the lords in #Lutyens. 2/6

Many are comparing @BSYBJP speech in the assembly today to Vajpayee’s ‘96 speech. It’s a travesty to do so. BSY was emotional no doubt, he almost broke down, but one felt that was for his private loss. His diction and delivery were both terrible. He was lisping and slurring. He didn’t have the moral authority to make a soul stirring speech like Vajpayee.His party’s dark deeds of the past week to cobble up a majority were exposed, and he stood there as a loser plucking worn out phrases from fatigued corners of his mind to ignite sympathy. Didn’t work.